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[ToadMan]

Judge says Microsoft-Activision deal can proceed, Activision Blizzard stock soars 11%

Microsoft won a court fight against the FTC, paving the way for its Activision Blizzard deal to move forward.

finance.yahoo.com

They might try to appeal in the next days but IMO as you say the whole PI was an orchestrated plan and last ditch effort with the CMA to block the deal. CMA had already decided and told the parts that if the FTC lost they would consider to settle.
Now it's more about what the CMA will ask Microsoft to concede to save face and allow to merger to close.
I expect something a bit stronger than what they gave to EU but the deal will close.

Dare I say it, the Gamer's lawsuit is still out there!

<help_me_obi_wan.gif>

 

[DeepEnigma]

Even more interesting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/bre...titure-to-meet-objections-of-cma-sources.html

divest is the opposite of invest. if they shut it down, its divested

plus CNBC reported it has to do with cloud. put 2 and 2 together.

This is what they said,

You know, we can all speculate about some sort of a licensing deal for the cloud and other things that may occur here but again, a small and discreet divestiture is what I'm hearing,

 

[Drell]

Does this mean MS will fix OW2

They won't but if they did, I'd like them to "restart" Heroes of the Storm as well.

 

[thismeinteil]

1400...HERE..WE..COME

 

[sinnergy]

Oh hi guys , how is this going

 

[mckmas8808]

So I wonder what happens if after a few years, Microsoft pulls CoD away from other platforms, which is absolutely their right to do so...

Nothing will happen. The EU won't do anything either. They'll try to sue MS years later for doing that, but MS will beat them in court and nothing will happen. MS will be buying a few other publishers too. Don't be surprised to see MS spending another $50-$75 Billion on other publishers.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Oh hi guys , how is this going

Fucking swell

 

[M16]

This is what they said,

it wasnt faber. it was the other guy kovach

 

[PaintTinJr]

Namely a guarantee in writing for COD for x years on PS. Something about cloud gaming.

That is a behavioural remedy. It won't cut it. and doesn't address the "Cloud" Serious Lessening of Competition concern they wrote nearly 500pages about.

Full adoption of Vulkan/Opengl for Windows and full divestment of DirectX development, and mandatory use worldwide of opensource linux for cloud gaming might do it IMHO.

 

[HoofHearted]

This is what they said,

Full context/quote:

"That said we got interesting commentary from both the CMA and Microsoft a couple of hours ago indicating the two sides were in conversations essentially to try to restructure the transaction so that would meet the objections of the CMA and therefore go to close and what I have learned is that Microsoft has offered what I'm told is a discrete small divestiture, unclear exactly what that is, that will in fact satisfy the CMA or at least they believe it will satisfy the CMA. You know, we can all speculate about some sort of a licensing deal for the cloud and other things that may occur here but again, a small and discreet divestiture is what I'm hearing, all of which would seem to put this on a path Kelly amazingly enough to actually be closed at $95 a share in cash, the price agreed to when this deal was announced back in January of 2022 despite what were numerous hurdles that were put in its way so we'll see that stock will probably continue to maintain a very close now range to that $95 a cash deal price. "

 

[mayham2199]

Full context/quote:

"That said we got interesting commentary from both the CMA and Microsoft a couple of hours ago indicating the two sides were in conversations essentially to try to restructure the transaction so that would meet the objections of the CMA and therefore go to close and what I have learned is that Microsoft has offered what I'm told is a discrete small divestiture, unclear exactly what that is, that will in fact satisfy the CMA or at least they believe it will satisfy the CMA. You know, we can all speculate about some sort of a licensing deal for the cloud and other things that may occur here but again, a small and discreet divestiture is what I'm hearing, all of which would seem to put this on a path Kelly amazingly enough to actually be closed at $95 a share in cash, the price agreed to when this deal was announced back in January of 2022 despite what were numerous hurdles that were put in its way so we'll see that stock will probably continue to maintain a very close now range to that $95 a cash deal price. "

So doesn't seem like anything has been agreed on just a remedy has been proposed.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Full context/quote:

"That said we got interesting commentary from both the CMA and Microsoft a couple of hours ago indicating the two sides were in conversations essentially to try to restructure the transaction so that would meet the objections of the CMA and therefore go to close and what I have learned is that Microsoft has offered what I'm told is a discrete small divestiture, unclear exactly what that is, that will in fact satisfy the CMA or at least they believe it will satisfy the CMA. You know, we can all speculate about some sort of a licensing deal for the cloud and other things that may occur here but again, a small and discreet divestiture is what I'm hearing, all of which would seem to put this on a path Kelly amazingly enough to actually be closed at $95 a share in cash, the price agreed to when this deal was announced back in January of 2022 despite what were numerous hurdles that were put in its way so we'll see that stock will probably continue to maintain a very close now range to that $95 a cash deal price. "

So doesn't seem like anything has been agreed on just a remedy has been proposed.

And thus we wait... again.

 

[Topher]

plus CNBC reported it has to do with cloud.

No, they did not. They said they didn't know.

 

[Heisenberg007]

And thus we wait... again.

Seems like posturing and saving face. The negotiation would have been done already behind doors by this point.

I reckon Microsoft would separate xCloud from GPU in the UK and call it a day. The CMA will accept that as "divestment" and claim that they brought down Microsoft and solved the cloud gaming problem.

 

[Chukhopops]

That is a behavioural remedy. It won't cut it. and doesn't address the "Cloud" Serious Lessening of Competition concern they wrote nearly 500pages about.

Full adoption of Vulkan/Opengl for Windows and full divestment of DirectX development, and mandatory use worldwide of opensource linux for cloud gaming might do it IMHO.

I'm gonna miss those posts when the deal is over, incredible.

 

[mckmas8808]

Fucc it. It's over.

Just like that.

It's all over.

This industry will be dead in 10 years, thankfully I have plenty of classics to still play.

Y'all have fun.

By 2030 podcasters and Youtubers will be asking what happened to the gaming industry. By 2033 it'll be dead. Microsoft's push to make gaming a pure cloud gaming industry starts now!

 

[blacktout]

I think I agree with this now. One decent size move - EA for sure, T2 likely but not as certain - is probably a knock out blow for PS as a first party at least - it may even relegate Nintendo to a pure mobile or third party publisher.

... What? Nintendo's success or failure has been almost entirely dictated by the desirability of their hardware and first party titles for literally decades, since most of their third party partners jumped ship over the N64's developer-unfriendly hardware.

The Switch has 19 games that have sold over ten million copies and every one of them is a first party title. The best-selling third party title is from Capcom (Monster Hunter Rise) and the second best-selling is already owned by Microsoft (Minecraft).

The two publishers you mentioned have barely supported the Switch, and even that limited support only came well after the system was already successful.

Given the strength of their market position and the consistently strong sales and quality of their first party titles, it's silly to suggest that Microsoft is going to crush Sony through acquisitions, but at least there's a valid case to be made that this could hurt them at the margins. It's completely insane to suggest that this is going to somehow force Nintendo to go third party.

 

[Firestartah]

Ponies post if u ok

 

[Gudji]

CMA to MS: "you gonna make CoD run natively on switch at 60 FPS ultra settings or the deal is dead".

MS:

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Full context/quote:

"That said we got interesting commentary from both the CMA and Microsoft a couple of hours ago indicating the two sides were in conversations essentially to try to restructure the transaction so that would meet the objections of the CMA and therefore go to close and what I have learned is that Microsoft has offered what I'm told is a discrete small divestiture, unclear exactly what that is, that will in fact satisfy the CMA or at least they believe it will satisfy the CMA. You know, we can all speculate about some sort of a licensing deal for the cloud and other things that may occur here but again, a small and discreet divestiture is what I'm hearing, all of which would seem to put this on a path Kelly amazingly enough to actually be closed at $95 a share in cash, the price agreed to when this deal was announced back in January of 2022 despite what were numerous hurdles that were put in its way so we'll see that stock will probably continue to maintain a very close now range to that $95 a cash deal price. "

If there is a divestiture it'll be a non-issue.

For example, when Rogers bought Shaw Cable (telcom!) in a $26 billion deal, Rogers agreed to divest Freedom Mobile for around $2.5 billion and also agreed to keep the employee count for 10 years. That's it. Deal approved.

 

[graywolf323]

1400...HERE..WE..COME

all these alts are helping towards something at least

 

[HoofHearted]

Seems like posturing and saving face. The negotiation would have been done already behind doors by this point.

I reckon Microsoft would separate xCloud from GPU in the UK and call it a day. The CMA will accept that as "divestment" and claim that they brought down Microsoft and solved the cloud gaming problem.

So this will all eventually boil down to semantics - same sort of thing that's happening with the iPhone USB-C debacle ... we will now live in a world where what you buy / own will be regulated by the region you live in..

 

[MAtgS]

CMA to MS: "you gonna make CoD run natively on switch at 60 FPS ultra settings or the deal is dead".

MS:

MS: *Ports CoD1, the GCN version, to Switch*

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

You're not a Playstation consumer. You're a consumer in the gaming market that has bought a PS5 or whatever. The govts wants to protect the market, not select corporations. Govt isn't supposed to pick winners.

What a willfully ignorant and insufferably naive thing to say in response.

Pray tell, how would regulators protect the market and thus consumer choice, if one market player fucks over all their competitors and drives them out of the market so that they're the only one left to compete?

You can't be this dense.

 

[Shambala]

Ponies post if u ok

 

[Jigsaah]

Folks are really getting ahead of themselves here. Sony still has the best talent in the industry. They just need to be smart now. No more slapping people in the face and telling them to turn the other cheek so they can slap it too.

They need to make things...better for consumers. Kinda what the judge was hinting it. In the short term at least, this will be good for consumers.

Longterm....oh boy. Let's just take this a step at a time. It's likely there will be future battles and the landscape could change between those battles. We should just live in the now, for now.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

I get that it's a business but kinda hate everything about this. And don't understand what there is to be happy about unless you are just cheerleading for corporations.

 

[Bernardougf]

Seems like posturing and saving face. The negotiation would have been done already behind doors by this point.

I reckon Microsoft would separate xCloud from GPU in the UK and call it a day. The CMA will accept that as "divestment" and claim that they brought down Microsoft and solved the cloud gaming problem.

Well we have our answer since HeisenbergFX4 acknowledged your post.

 

[Flintty]

FML my Gamepass just lapsed and I didn't upgrade a new gold sub before the price increase

I was not prepared.

Well they got me again. Just picked up 12 months gold from CDKeys and upgraded to GP Ultimate. Sadly they reduce it to 9 months now but it's still cheaper than paying monthly. I'm ready for my Acti-Blizz Gamepass games

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I get that it's a business but kinda hate everything about this. And don't understand what there is to be happy about unless you are just cheerleading for corporations.

you call yourself a video game enjoyer...do you enjoy the current state of gaming by Big Plublishers?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Well we have our answer since HeisenbergFX4 acknowledged your post.

I have zero clue what their proposals are but agree with his first line

 

[mckmas8808]

I'd advise EVERYONE to stop buy ABK games starting today. If they are all going to GamePass, you might as well not buy them now.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I get that it's a business but kinda hate everything about this. And don't understand what there is to be happy about unless you are just cheerleading for corporations.

As an Xbox gamer it's great. More Activision games will come to GP and going forward Xbox wont have the door slammed in it's face with marketing deals Sony has signed with Activision the past 10 years. And I'm thinking about buying a gaming laptop this year, so I can also latch onto PC GP too.

Also, I own Activision stock I bought a year ago in the low 70s. So Im happy there too.

Every deal can have haves and have nots. Just a matter of which side of the fence someone is on. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

 

[Solidus_T]

I get that it's a business but kinda hate everything about this. And don't understand what there is to be happy about unless you are just cheerleading for corporations.

People are happy to pay for a rental service rather than buy the games they play. That and fanboy vitriol pretty much sum up the mega corporate cheerleading.

 

[Varteras]

What a willfully ignorant and insufferably naive thing to say in response.

Pray tell, how would regulators protect the market and thus consumer choice, if one market player fucks over all their competitors and drives them out of the market so that they're the only one left to compete?

You can't be this dense.

If there is one son a bitch so laser focused on details to have this argument, I'm glad it's you

TheThreadsThatBindUs Oh come on! That was a compliment!

 

[ToadMan]

Sony is still the leader. They don't NEED to do anything other than keep making good games.

Quality games cost money to produce, and a significant portion of that money came from 3rd Party revenue splits, and a significant portion of those splits was ATVI content in the form of CoD, and Diablo.

Those aren't leaving PS tomorrow, but let's be honest the writing is on the wall. As it stands there is no obvious replacement for that revenue.

Sony will take major damage from that outcome eventually, and we will feel that in reduced quality of their output. That reduction in quality will be felt across our corner of gaming for sure - on all platforms.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

you call yourself a video game enjoyer...do you enjoy the current state of gaming by Big Plublishers?

I do enjoy them, and own and play every console. Big publishers right now are….fine? Lots of misses, some hits. Status quo. I can't tell if this is gotcha on me or not. But don't see that really changes now. Except that we have even more consolidation.

The amazing track record of Microsoft gaming studios getting their hands on all these legendary IPs definitely doesn't have me jumping for joy. Especially when their motivations for this deal have been laid so bare…

 

[mckmas8808]

See.... the Judge claims it's bad for Sony, yet it's apparently good for future gamers (can't be good for future games if you're singling gamers out). Even she knows that lying Phil is going to make it exclusive to just Game Pass.

This judge is dumb as hell. Why does she think this deal means MORE people will play Call of Duty? They can already play it RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[onnextflix5]

What an absolute embarrassment for the uk government and the cma , I mean how dumb could u be, when it was obvious that both the eu and us would give the all clear to the accusation.

 

[pepodmc_]

I fucking hate this industry at times. This is the beginning of a huge change in the video game world. It sets a sad presedence but it is what it is.

This court case has been completely botched by the FTC who weren't ready or prepared and the listening/watching showed that.

Let's see who they buy next. Because this is the plan.

Please, be capcom

 

[Sushi_Combo]

It's time for Sony to revive some of their old franchises, bring some variety back please.

 

[Vox Machina]

Looks like the reason the FTC brought the Preliminary Injunction case when it did was because they got wind that the CMA was possibly working with Microsoft on a remedy package and would eventually approve it.

 

[Historia]

This judge is dumb as hell. Why does she think this deal means MORE people will play Call of Duty? They can already play it RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her son can play COD in work hours now

 

[chilichote]

Can someone give me a brief summary of the current status?

 

[mayham2199]

Can someone give me a brief summary of the current status?

FTC PI denied. CMA and MS currently negotiating.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Can someone give me a brief summary of the current status?

the apocalypse has begun

 

[adamsapple]

Can someone give me a brief summary of the current status?

Judge denied FTC request
CMA immediately about-faced and paused their litigation in the UK and asked Microsoft to come back to the negotiation table.

All signs point to the deal being closed at this point unless something major breaks apart.

 

[mckmas8808]

Soon ™

And people think payin $10 a month to all those games will be profitable for Microsoft.....

 

[Varteras]

As an Xbox gamer it's great. More Activision games will come to GP and going forward Xbox wont have the door slammed in it's face with marketing deals Sony has signed with Activision the past 10 years. And I'm thinking about buying a gaming laptop this year, so I can also latch onto PC GP too.

Also, I own Activision stock I bought a year ago in the low 70s. So Im happy there too.

Every deal can have haves and have nots. Just a matter of which side of the fence someone is on. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Filthy console gaming peasants!

 

[poppabk]

What a willfully ignorant and insufferably naive thing to say in response.

Pray tell, how would regulators protect the market and thus consumer choice, if one market player fucks over all their competitors and drives them out of the market so that they're the only one left to compete?

You can't be this dense.

Sega - told by Sony that they would not be able to compete with Sony due to Sony's electronics existing production infrastructure. Sega shortly after - 3rd party
Nintendo - stated they were one WiiU level console away from bowing out of the market
MS - considered dropping out of consoles to go mobile only.
Sony - Doing fine, even in the get two jobs, Cell PS3 era.
It's not MS who have come close to what you describe.